We watched the Olympics avidly this year. My son is a sports nut so we are definitely interested in watching the best athletes in the world compete at the top of their games in these games.

Those Olympics were full of stories about athletes that had come from bad childhoods, poor neighborhoods, struggling countries to somehow overcome it to make it to the Olympics. We love the story of the underdog winning in the end. At the Olympics we take a little time out from being spoonfed our daily ration of sensationalized news and reality TV. For just a little while we get to watch some really sensational reality on TV. People who work hard, train hard, and dedicate their lives improving themselves. This is the reality I want on my TV. The first ever double amputee to run in the Olympics? How many times did we hear that story? We loved it. We love it still.

We watched athlete after athlete swim faster, run harder, win more medals than ever before. When it was all over I looked ahead to the Paralympic Games to show my son what overcoming adversity and triumphing against long odds really means. We want to celebrate these athletes just as much, if not more, than the first bunch. But we won’t be given the opportunity. The sad fact is that someone, somewhere decided that we really don’t want to see much more inspiration. That we’re just not that interested in the Paralympic Games.

I read this article ,and a few others, about how little coverage that the US is getting of the Paralympics.

I am saddened and shamed by this.

The coverage of the Olympics was extremely extensive. I had 9 hour and 5 hour long recordings on my DVR every single day and we still didn’t get to see everything. According to the article, ” NBC announced its U.S. coverage would only include video content on the U.S. Paralympics YouTube channel and five and a half hours of pre-recorded coverage airing on broadcast television.”

Five and a half hours total.

I saw nearly three times as much every day of the Olympics as will be aired for the entire Paralympics.

For shame, NBC. What are you telling these athletes, these people about their worth? What are you telling them, and us, about their place in society? You are telling them that they are less than. That they are not deserving of the same attention as “regular” athletes.

You are telling my son that his dad who is a disabled veteran who struggles everyday just to do regular things is not enough. Please don’t use any more disabled people or wounded warriors in your commercials to sell your products if you can’t offer them the decency of your attention in return.

Thanks for making it harder to teach my son that we are all equal.

Thanks for making it easier to explain what discrimination is.

We can

and should

do better than this.

UPDATE: I got mad enough to send an angry email to NBC Sports. Here it is:

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter to find out why we are being so limited in coverage of the London Paralympics. I was dismayed to read that there is only going to be 5.5 hours of coverage offered here in the US. In total. I think the disparity between the coverage for the “regular” Olympics and the Paralympics is truly unconscionable.

Are we so accustomed to our sensationalized reality TV that we aren’t able to recognize sensational TV in reality? I like to think that that is not the case, but somewhere, someone in your hierarchy decided that we aren’t interested. That America’s Got Talent trumps talented Americans. I am ashamed of this discrimination against these athletes.

I am so angry right now.

What are you telling these athletes, these people, about their worth? What are you telling them about their place in society? You are telling them that they aren’t worthy of your, and our, attention. You are telling them that they are Less Than. You are telling them that they are not enough.

Broadcasting companies are quick to use a wounded soldier or triumphant disabled person to sell their products by tugging on our heartstrings to reach our purse strings. Please, put your coverage where your mouth is.

I am trying to show my son that we are all equal. I am trying to teach him that his dad, a disabled veteran who struggles everyday just to do regular activities is not less than. I am angry that you are undermining those teachings.

Thank you for making it easier for me to teach my son about discrimination.

Sincerely,

Brook Hewitt

and a petition on change.org that you can sign if you’re interested and angry like I am.

You may or may not know that there are protesters gathering in the streets of New York (and elsewhere) to protest the greed and corruption of the 1% of Americans who have the money and power.

The reason why you haven’t heard about it?

Your guess is as good as mine.

But it’s possible that those same people who control the money also control the media and don’t want you to know it’s happening. It doesn’t really even matter if you agree with anything about the protests. What matters is that you aren’t being given the information. You cannot form your own opinion about it if you don’t know about it.

Today I was running around trying to get ready to go to school. We started up today. I was looking for a shirt that I like to wear, but I couldn’t find it. (In the time allotted. 🙂 ) Failing to find that shirt, I decided to wear a shirt that was my mom’s. Luckily she liked to wear baggy clothes so some things fit me. I was looking for that shirt (which is black) when I noticed a black shirt on top of a stack of shirts on the shelf in the closet. I grabbed it thinking it was the shirt I was looking for. It was not. It was a different shirt of my mom’s.

I remember, like most of us do, where I was when I heard about it. On the radio in our truck on the way home from dropping off my husband at work. I went home and turned on the TV and watched the world as we knew it come crashing down.

I remember

I remember Carol Duvall coming on HGTV and saying that in light of what had happened, they weren’t going to keep frittering on about crafting and whatnot. Out of respect, they stopped broadcasting for a couple days.

I remember

I remember bravery. I remember heroes.

I remember sorrow.

I remember sorrow.

sorrow.

Most of all, I remember how tenderly we treated each other. For a brief window of time we set aside our petty squabbles with each other and came together to grieve and try to heal each other. There was an incredible outpouring of love and support toward each other. Even if you weren’t one of the many who volunteered, people just had more manners toward each other. In our daily lives in the aftermath of the attacks we were not so quick to respond negatively to every little transgression on the street. For a little while we were able to see the bigger picture.

Loss on such a grand scale (and on lesser scale as well) has the effect of putting things in their proper perspective. It’s a devastating, jarring realignment back to center.

And then, slowly, the tap, tap, tapping of the daily living starts to chip away at the focus. We look up and find that we are angry and hurting and somehow, somewhere, sometime, we loose our tender hold on each other. We let it slip away.

I hope that we can grab hold of each other and try to regain some of that love and support.